The Battelle/R&D Magazine survey of the global research community delivers original insights that indicate the temperament of
R&D activities around the world, and adds context to the quantitative analysis involved in this 2014 Forecast. This year’s survey
yielded 915 respondents from 71 countries ranging from Australia to
Vietnam. U.S.-based researchers comprised the largest geographic
cohort at 43% of all respondents.

Global Researcher Profile

As in past years, there continues to be surprising consistency among
the global researcher responses, though important distinctions are
seen among specific subgroups correlated to organization type and
country of origin. The respondent profile reflects the diversity of
the global researcher community as well as the random nature of the
survey approach, with the majority coming from academic institutions, but with applied research, including clinical and translational
biomedical research, accounting for the largest share by research
type.

From a technical, industry, or market area perspective the distribution is similar to the last two years. The broad life science/
biomedical field accounted for the largest share of respondents at

35%, with chemicals and advanced materials second at a 17% share.

Respondents in environmental and sustainability technologies, ICT

and agriculture/food account for 10%, 8% and 5% shares, respectively. The diverse nature of research was captured by this survey as
14% of the respondents are primarily involved in basic research in
areas falling outside of the ten categories provided. This includes
research in mathematics, physics and Earth sciences.

Anticipation of Future R&D Funding

The survey revealed a distinction between expectations for stability and direction of U.S. government R&D funding versus all other
types. As noted earlier, the U.S. commitment to R&D funding as a
percentage of GDP has been reliable over many years, and there is
some evidence that support for public R&D investment crosses political boundaries. Even so, the survey results may indicate eroding
confidence in the longer-term future.

The ongoing financial problems in Europe, Japan and the US
are influencing the sentiment of governments and industry.
This is likely to curb spending on R&D, resulting in a loss of
research diversity with a focus on payback - this may be a useful
short-term solution but could be sacrificing long-term benefits.